No. 1,] Miscellaneous Notes. 



37 



the Survey Commissioner and Director, Land Records and Agricul- 

 ture, Bombay: — 



" Oryctes rhinoceros, Linn. — This beetle is very common in Kanara and does 

 jnuch mischief to cocoanut trees. It attacks the trees at the growing point and 

 burrows downwards. In doing this it eats through the folded young fronds, so 

 that, when they expand, they appear to have been cut in regular patterns. It 

 would be difficult to find a tree in the district which does not bear this mark of the 

 ravages of the insect. I have not ascertained whether the beetle enters the tree 

 for the purpose of laying its eggs, or only to feed on the succulent parts. In the 

 trees, which I have examined, I have only found beetles, but the natives say that 

 they sometimes find large white grubs. This beetle is known in the district as 

 Bhowara, a name commonly applied to any large droning insect. 



The insect is referred to in these Notes, Volume III, No, 6, 

 page 149. 



" Dinoderus sp. (?)— Atleast one species of minute bamboo beetle is a trouble- 

 some pest in Kanara, seriously injuring bamboo furniture, walking-sticks, etc., 

 and utterly destroying fixtures such as trellis-work and ceilings made of bamboo- 

 matting. As far as I have observed, it is only while bamboos are comparatively 

 fresh that they are liable to attack, and I believe that complete immunity is secured 

 by soaking them in salt water for some time ; but bamboos treated in this way are 

 fit only for building purposes. " 



This insect is referred to in these Notes^ Volume II, No. 6, 

 page 150. 



" Calnndra oryzcB, Linn. — The grain weevil is common here as elsewhere. 



"A large caterpillar of one of the wood-boring moths does much injury to 

 guava trees in Bombay. It inhabits burrows in the principal branches and comes 

 out at night to feed on the bark, making covered ways of its own excrement bound 

 together with silk. I have never succeeded in rearing it or getting the moth. It 

 is not met with so much in Kanara, where the guava is little cultivated. 



" Z)flCMs/'ey»'i/^?«eMs, Fabr.— Ripe mangoes are often unfit to eat in this dis- 

 trict—especially after the rains set in — owing to the pulp having got black and 

 rotten in parts close to the seed. On cutting open mangoes in this condition, I have 

 found small, white, legless grubs possessed of a surprising power of springing. 

 They are evidently dipterous, but I cannot say whether they belong to the species 

 above named." 



This insect is referred to in these Notes, page 165, Volume II, 

 No. 6. 



" Dysdercus cingulataus, Fabr. — This is not a cotton-growing district, but the 

 pods of the silk cotton tree are infested at times with a red bug which I presume 

 is this species, or are very closely allied. They suck the seeds, but I doubt their 

 doing any damage to the fibre." 



